"Where better to care for the soul than in the details of our daily lives?....The soul has an absolute, unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment. It requires them like the body needs food and the mind needs thought... An enchanted world is one that speaks to the soul, to the mysterious depths of the heart and imagination where we find value, love and union with the world around us. As mystics of many religions have taught, that sense of rapturous union can give a sense of fulfillment that makes life purposeful and vibrant."
~ Thomas Moore.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

I was gifted a card by my friend Pammie, from Jackie Lawson.....the best cards in the universe in my humble opinion, and I was inspired to make something. One led to two, to three, etc, you know how it goes....when it flows :D

I just wanted to post for Pammie the inspiration and to say thank you so very much for your ever present lovingness, distant as it is with you on the other side of the planet......for the cards....such thoughtfulness and usually in the very knick of time........
and to everyone else, a lovely Merry Christmas to you all.

Pammie, one urn got coleus cuttings in Christmas colors with a cutting from the Pink Poinsettia I just picked up today......I added ivy.....that was the point, were the poinsettias with ivy, or amaryllis with ivy.....but all of my amaryllis bulbs did not flower this year, maybe next year.

This is a Lemon Cypress topiary in almost lime green. I've never seen it in this color but it is lovely.

The goldish pinkish poinsettia I picked up this morning to put into an empty jar.

These lemons, sweet potatoe vine and magenta coleus are happy family here and I had to take another pic of them....

The middle room got a little Christmas "tree" with cuttings in a mercury urn, moss on a stick as I call them lolol, and birds.....simple.

And for the inspiration Pammie, the lovely moss covered urn with ivy and poinsettias I happen to have growing in a corner no one sees.....

Happy dance Pammie, lolol......you don't know how much making pots, arrangements, and gardening makes me.....it makes life worth living, and today, to make something that enchanted me so much, and to think I had everything already, and didn't think to put it together myself! This is why gardening is always, always, a learning curve, and inspiration the ever invited surprise. Thank you so much! :D:D:D

Friday, December 19, 2014

Just wanting to share some pictures I took around the house and gardens, seasonal things and some just for fun.

I only knew I wanted fresh greenery for the season, nothing too decorated, just fresh greens. It is a quiet sense of purity and livingness I love. I found all the greenery I needed in Trader Joe's on my first visit there, what a joyful day that was! ;D

Window boxes planted with baby plants, pansies, ivy, begonias, coleus and sweet potatoe vine cuttings, and fern.This should take all season to fill out which will be really nice.

My Secret Garden beneath my bedroom window. Finally I think I got it right with the right plants for the right lighting, these should stay small.

I love the pink poinsettias with the plum coleus together.

I wanted pinks, plums, and silver colors.

The Christmas Tree....is not what I would have bought, and I got a bit depressed when I saw it. The housemate got this and I didn't think I could redeem it, but I frosted it, added a strand of lights and a few glass balls......glittered pine cones around the base. I will always have pine cones around, I just love them.

The mantle......is very long.....11 feet long. I added an extra strand of lights, a boxwood wreath with simple snowflakes on it, Hebe Cupressoides evergreens, and pine garland.

I didn't do much this season, but I did want the bottle brush trees out, I just love them.

After looking at the trees for a week I decided one day to glitter a few of them, am glad I did! Nothing like sparkle!! :D

My room got a small tree as last year. But the new thing is an adorable Victorian Santa in Pinks from the thrift store.

He appears to be singing :D.........and he himself seems to be decked with all kinds of things! lolol....so I didn't need much more...I still have yet to investigate all he is carrying on him.

Even from the back he is resplendent :D....glitter and all.....love him.

A beautiful small flowering plant, Winter Wonder campanula.....Trader Joe's carries different things I love to see.

Outside the front veggie patch is doing great. The orange tree finally got planted and around it I planted mustards which are giant now, the collards in the back growing slowly but can grow to 6 feet like the last ones I had and last a few years. And in the front are 4 cabbages doing very nicely....the lush healthy greenery makes me so happy, and I love juicing them.

I love the pink poinsettias so much I bought extra to make hanging baskets for the front porch.

In the back yard where I used to have full sun even in the winter, I realized the mango tree grew so much the past year it shades the entire back yard now, so it will have to be trimmed to have the sun I need to grow the veggies and flowers I want. I bought all heirloom seeds, but they have to wait until the tree is trimmed.
The rabbits were eating everything I planted and I had to cover the cabbages here with cloches.

This is my favorite hanging basket now, it is rather big, maybe 22 inches across. I love the colors.

Thanks for visiting.
I wish for you all a healthy and happy, peaceful and abundant season and Holiday.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I am MOST grateful today, being able to shop this week, and this time at a new store we didn't have here in these parts yet, Trader Joe's. Before I even walked in, all the Holiday Greenery outside hooked me and I got my Holiday Greens.

I found those little cypress style evergreens I wanted for the first time, and had no idea where to find them and lo and behold, there they were in two sizes at affordable prices, in silver and gray containers, perfect......with glitter I might add! :D:D:D.

I got pine garland, a boxwood wreath, a mixed green swag.......a miniature FRAGRANT rose, a white flowering plant I have never seen before, organic apples, raw cashews for ice cream and a bottle of wine for $2.99!? we shall see if it is decent.....everyone looked at my cart and commented how beautiful it was with all the greenery and miniature flowers and I couldn't stop smiling at everyone, and so many people smiled at me too. One of the managers also loved my cart and said all I needed was candles which I DID need actually but didn't know they carried and there were the tapers cheaper than any I'd found before! A perfect day.

Monday, November 24, 2014

I have a book that I love. It always brings me to rights. I read it often and gaze at its images before bed so I can relax enough to get to sleep. It also is so correct in every aspect of what it is expressing, about the Intimate Home ~ Creating a Private World. That is the name of the book and it was put out by Victoria Magazine.

You can get the book on amazon now for penny and it is worth far more than that. The irony.
I think in a harsh world, every woman needs to be reminded of the essential requirement for seeking grace and timelessness, and a greater indulging into Beauty of Self....and when I say "self".....this is inclusive of the whole of body mind and spirit.....take care of the body also nurtures the spirit, this I have felt. Take care of the spirit, also nurtures the body.....it is one and the same

I want to share one of its chapters called"A PLACE FOR BEAUTY''.............

"devotion to beauty is a careful and daily tending, a ritual

of polish and gentle refinement that takes place from

bathing to dressing. In a place for beauty, a woman looks

leisurely to her appearance and increases her allure.

Such a pleasurable time deserves surroundings filled with grace".

excerpt:

''Victorians treated the daily ritual of bathing and dressing the same way they approached all aspects of everyday living, with a lavish appreciation for utilitarian beauty and an equally lavish love of the sensory. After the day began with a languid steep or under the invigorating needles of a shower, came the toilette, the measured application of cosmetics, jewelry, and perfume, and enhancement of the body before dressing.
Toilette, the devotion to beauty, is not practiced in a hurried way. A woman is seated in comfort before a vanity on which is laid everything needed to pamper, nurture, replenish, and protect her beauty. Prepared with creams and foundations, the face in the looking glass is the canvas on which a woman works her art. Palettes of color appear from a vanity drawer for a delicate brush of petal pink or soft lilac. Then, the skin is given a final polish with an airborne sprinkling of silken powder from a feathery pouf, a finish that will cause the face to glow with the inner beauty of porcelain. Finally, perfume, the heart note of a woman's soul, decanted in heavy cut-glass flacons, is applied. When a gentlewoman steps from her dressing room, the sweet results of her labor are for the world to behold.''

I have told of my desire to have all nurturing things in one place and my intuition was right. When there is no place for tending leisurely, with focus and attention, that which needs tending will suffer.
I knew everything should be organized so that the tending to ones skin and beauty was time well spent with everything I need and use in one place, not merely organized but so aesthetically pleasing that the space enticed me, pulled me in to spend the time, making nurturing an enjoyment of all the senses. In that case, one is regularly looking forward to tending to oneself. And the results are that one feels beautiful, regardless.

I was gifted a vanity as an early Christmas present and I am in love with it. But before I found it I was trying to figure out how to create such a vanity. I had the space, I just didn't know how to put it together. There are many ways and I have discovered another just today in my imagination.

First one must gather all the things they use and see what they have so they know what kinds and size of containers one actually needs. If one cannot find a proper vanity, then trips to the stores or thrift stores will come up with a small desk, maybe with drawers on one side, or a secretary desk or even a flat desk will do as long as you can sit in front of it with your legs beneath it. Benches usually come with them but if not, they are easily found in stores too. They can be covered with fabric you love or simply draped with a lace. For the top you can find lovely small cabinets from stores like Home Goods, Marshall's, TJ Maxx etc, sometimes in the bathroom section called medicine cabinets which can be decorated inside and out....... and collect beautiful containers that you love for all the things you use and want to store. Then you can find lovely mirrors etc. Painting the desk, containers, mirror etc to the color or look you want is important to give it that purposeful look of being a vanity.
I happen to like cut glass Victorian style jars etc which are found in thrift stores or on ebay. You can also find beautiful ones in the stores mentioned above or get creative. You can decoupage containers or even the desk you find using some of the gorgeous napkins sold in places like Party City. I'm actually going to decoupage this secretary desk soon.
Use your imagination by seeing in your mind what you want to see.

The idea my muse gave me today was a plain desk can be made into a vanity with a beautiful stylish jewelry box on top to hold any cosmetics and jars one uses. I found some really useful looking ones by googling them in images and realized these can work well if you don't have drawers.
One like this for example comes with a mirror already. It can be painted or decoupaged, trimmed with metal trim or appliques, etc....

Can't you just see this one filled with brushes, small jars, compact makeup rounds, cotton balls, etc? I don't use much so this would be enough for me. One could remove the top part for the rings and use the space for jars. There are so many styles and sizes to choose from and thrift stores usually have them. A mirror could be found to fit the desk or hung on the wall behind it.

I just think they are important, these Places for Beauty.
I wish to see a return of the woman who spends the time on her God Given Feminine Grace and Beauty, slowing down in the rush driven society where busy is celebrated and nurturing laid to the side.
I wish to see more nurturing and ''busy'' laid to rest. In this way a natural repose is released like endorphins and may catch you by surprise how wonderful it is......if you give it the space, and the time.
I wish to see the woman who spent such care for her appearance that she
oozes a rare dignity. She KNOWS when she shows up, she will have made a
statement of refinement. She will receive admiration.....not for her outer beauty but for the inner one she refines by nurturing herself through the looking glass. It is a vibe, an energy the woman emanates when she has tended well to her Self.
I wish to see more vanities......if you have them please share. If you make one please share.

Here is mine for the moment.......I have three more jars I need.....one for powder, which I'm going to make...... one for my shea butter, and another for the organic coconut oil I use to cleanse my face each night. I prefer all to be in the same type of glass jar with silver lid. I abhor plastics and things with ads on them, I just want the pure product in pure glass.......it just makes me feel more beautiful.

And there is nothing more beautiful than the woman who feels beautiful, no matter what.

Find someone who traces the lines in your hands just to feel close to you, and someone who believes the ocean is trapped in your eyes. Find someone who loves the bones in your body and loves the skin that you live in. Find someone who will help you love yourself. ~ (k.b.g)